By Lisa Backus
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The state Medical Examining Board today issued $5,000 fines to three physicians including two Bristol Hospital Emergency Department doctors who failed to diagnose and treat a patient with sepsis who later died.
Another physician was also disciplined by the board for failing to act on test results.
Dr. Syed Hadi and Dr. Waile Ramadan both treated a man who was brought to the Bristol Hospital Emergency Department on Jan. 7, 2019 with a high fever and other symptoms of a bacterial infection but never prescribed antibiotics, according to state Department of Public Health (DPH) investigators.
The man died of sepsis two days later, documents said. The case was the subject of a malpractice lawsuit filed against the physicians, Starling Physicians and Bristol Hospital which was settled in 2021. DPH opened an investigation of the case after an inspection found violations at the hospital in 2019, documents said.
The physicians failed to meet the standard of care by not reviewing test results including a positive culture for bacteria, not communicating with other hospital staff and not properly diagnosing the patient, a consent order said.
Hadi and Ramadan both received a $5,000 fine from the board. Both physicians have completed coursework in infection control including the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, communication with other health care providers and documentation standards, documents said.
The board also issued a fine and a permanent restriction on the prescription registration of Dr. Alfred Ranieri, of Medical Associates of New Haven, who prescribed controlled substances several times to two patients without properly determining or documenting the need, documents said.
Ranieri voluntarily gave up his controlled substance registration in July 2020, documents said. The DPH opened an investigation into the allegations in November 2019 after receiving a complaint from the state Department of Consumer Protection Drug Control Division, investigators said.
Under the terms of the discipline approved by the board, Ranieri must pay a $5,000 fine, his drug registration is permanently restricted from prescribing nearly all controlled substances and his Connecticut medical license is reprimanded.
The board also reprimanded the license of a Hartford Healthcare primary care physician who failed to treat a patient’s back pain and irregular urine analysis in 2018, DPH documents said.
Dr. Othman El-Alami treated the patient over the course of two decades but failed to maintain adequate records, failed to act on radiographic and urinalysis test results and failed to adequately treat the patient’s back pain, a DPH investigation found.
El-Alami’s medical license was reprimanded and placed on probation for six months while he completed coursework in proper clinical documentation as part of the discipline issued by the board.
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